Town Square

Impeachment Not Appeasement

Original post made
by Carol Brouillet, Barron Park,
on May 30, 2007

Opposition to the current regime has steadily grown over the years, as one scandal after another has exposed serious assaults upon our Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as the lies used to sell illegal, immoral wars to the American people, the institutionalization of torture, and unlawful spying on vast numbers of American citizens. Not one, but two stolen elections have added fuel to the fire. Opposition to the war in Iraq, enabled Democrats to take over the House of Representatives. Anger smoldered when impeachment was pushed off the table and Congress voted for the war effort in defiance of the widespread opposition of the American people.

Activists wrote books, staged demonstrations and rallies, spelled out "IMPEACH" upon beach after beach to pressure the media into covering the issue and members of Congress into upholding their oaths to defend the Constitution against all enemies- foreign and domestic. Representative Cynthia McKinney, who courageously introduced the first articles of impeachment before leaving office last year, was crucified by the press and by her own Democratic Party for daring to champion truth and justice and failing to toe the "party line."

Last month during the national shopping boycott for Impeachment for Peace, prior to the national day of action for impeachment, Dennis Kucinich introduced HR 333 ( Web Link) which would launch impeachment proceedings against Vice President Richard Cheney. The grounds are basically- 1) actively and systemically misleading citizens and Congress about the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq undermining the genuine security interests of the United States, 2) manipulating public opinion about the relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq in order to gain support for a war, 3) threatening aggression against Iran in violation of international law, in a manner that destabilizes the region and harms the genuine national security interests of the United States.

Many who would otherwise join in the widespread calls for impeachment fear that removing Bush is pointless because we would only be stuck with Cheney. Kucinich's resolution reflects the concern that there might be another false flag event or fabricated incident or manipulation of intelligence to justify an expansion of the war into Iran. Kucinich has only three co-sponsors at the moment. Just in the past week, large "Impeachment Rallies" were held when Bush spoke at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, hundreds representing an array of impeachment, ant-war groups rallied to protest Cheney's address at West Point last Saturday, in Maine a hundred citizens rallied to present over 11,000 signatures to Maine's Senate and their Congressmen to urge them to impeach Bush and Cheney.
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Resolutions for impeachment have already been passed by the Green Party, but are now being passed by the Democratic Parties in various States- California and Massachusetts, as well as by numerous cities, most recently Detroit, the mayor of which is married to Rep. John Conyers, chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

In Palo Alto, we demanded pre-emptive impeachment of Bush in January 2003 (as well as investigations back in 2002), in hopes of exposing "the fraudulent (and irrationally named) 'War on Terror,'" preventing the Iraq War, and reversing the disastrous policies bulldozed through Congress. Public awareness of these issues is much elevated since then, the ripening fruit of the grassroots efforts to demand justice and accountability from our government. We will continue our monthly impeachment rallies and marches in downtown Palo Alto until Congress moves forward with the impeachment process.

Our next Impeachment Rally will be on June 13, 2007, beginning at 1:00 pm in Lytton Plaza with KPFA's Flashpoints News magazine host, investigative journalist, Dennis Bernstein. 2007 Heroic Citizens' Awards will be presented. Superheroes- Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman and Yoda will lead a 2:00 pm march up and down University to Congresswoman Eshoo's office, encouraging her to support HR 333 and impeachment.

I loathe President Bush and he must be impeached and jailed, but he is the epitome of America: tyrannical, morally hysterical, anti-intellectual, bigoted, wealthy, powerful, self-absorbed, and violent.

Look at our popular culture with its mainstay of celebrating violence as the only "masculine" option in resolving male emotional stress; mainstream rap that ruthlessly condemns women, girls, and homosexuals for their inherent "immorality," justifying brutal oppression; "torture porn" in film that glorifies, essentially, gruesome misogynistic killings of young women; and our love affair with "shock jocks" whose sole "entertainment" value is callous hate.

Mind you, our popular culture refuses to even be bothered with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our nation is not distressed by the wars but horribly bored by them, as we casually dismiss the rising death toll of our soldiers (never do we concern ourselves with Iraqi civilians).

Bush is the first president to make us pay for our national sins, by embodying them to the extreme. Not until we do a major overhaul of who we are as a people will we recapture the moral authority necessary to lead the world.

Posted by Claire
a resident of Los Altos Hills
on May 31, 2007 at 7:10 am

The most frightening characteristic of the current administration is not its incompetence, but rather their methodical dismantling and recasting of the U.S. Constitution. When third-world strongmen, such as Chavez or Mugabe, rewrite their constitutions to give themselves more power, there is public outcry and condemnation in this country. Why, then, can we not recognize that a similar Constitutional coup is taking place here? Why do we so readily accept into our vocabulary such terms as the "unitary executive," as if we all learned about it back in high school but just forgot? Why do we sit back and accept as standard operating procedure the president's grotesque use of "presidential signing statements" that place him above any law passed by Congress? The public, aided by the media, act as if these kinds of actions are normal in American governance.

My father, an arch conservative all his life, shuddered at the election of Bush in 2000. He told me at that time that the United States was witnessing the rise of its first American emperor. I'm glad he's not around to see this.

I do believe that we, as citizens are complicit in how we are viewed in the world.
Yes, most of the nation supported the war, but it was under false pretenses, under the great duress of a country that was attacked in the heart of our greatest city. This was a sleeping nation shaken awake from a deep sleep. The animals in the White House knew only too well how to use this against the people of America and Iraq.
There is a solution. It is, us, the people. We have to rid ourselves of the thugs in the White House. Bush and Cheney must be led out of the building by the will of the American people. The trick is how to get our cowardly and now complicit politicians to stand up and do the job.

We recognize the fatal error. We must fix it if we are ever to gain respect in the world again. Without our input are we much different than Hitler's Germany?

Rebuilding the reputation of the US means rediscovering real morality, real principle. It means judging people by what they do, it means politicians who when asked in a debate about their religious faith have the nerve to tell the reporter "that's none of your damn business." It means being again a country that can prosecute an amoral SOB like Nixon, and George Walker Bush. It means electing a President again that the French might name a Paris Metro station after, like FDR. Americans traveling abroad now often identify themselves as Canadians, lest they be linked in any way with the dumb criminal in the White House.

Lets face it, george bush is the perfect example of what happens when parents who have outrageous amounts of money can create turn their purse strings loose, with no limit, on their spoiled little brats. The result is the creation of a dangerous and heartless heathen who really believes he can rule the world without any consequence or accountability for his actions. (criminal or otherwise). Well guess what? There are consequences as well as accountability and it is going to take those individuals who uphold our Founding Father's ideals to stop this mad boy.

If we look back at our history, Benedict Arnold was executed for much less than george has done. For Gods sake, Bill Clinton was impeached for getting a blowjob that did not kill anyone at all! How many more lives must this country give up just to satisfy this monster's insatiable thirst for blood.

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis
a resident of Midtown
on May 31, 2007 at 10:12 pm

Someone needs to check the Bush fortune against the Kerry or the Gore money. And someone needs to read the articles of impeachment on Clinton. The Monica was not mentoned, only the perjury uder oath. And a quick trip to Wikipedia will tell JR that Benedict Arnold was not executed. Amazing what one can write that just isn't so.

It will never happen! Two years left in the White House- he will be gone before this congress could get a backbone!! Look what happen with the vote on more funding for the war- not even a timetable was given. The Dems cave in.

It will never happen! Two years left in the White House- he will be gone before this congress could get a backbone!! Look what happen with the vote on more funding for the war- not even a timetable was given. The Dems cave in.

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis
a resident of Midtown
on Jun 1, 2007 at 10:20 am

Why not argue policies instead of personalities?
This "and the horse you rode in on" debate kills objectivity. The fools who burned the flags and posted the swastikas at the Washington cemetery were just carrying this philosophy of hate to its' ultimate extreme.

Carl includes being wealthy with sin. JR implies having money to educate your children is bad. I don't listen to morality from these types. Wealth is created by productive people. Those who envy it are usually parasites.

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